Bench Press Diet
By Alan F. Smith
Your diet is without a doubt the most important thing when you are looking to increase your bench press.
The key nutrients that you want to focus on are protein, carbohydrates, fat, and vitamins & supplements.
The ratio of nutrients that you take in is also important. Most health experts recommend 40% of calories to come as protein, 30% as carbs, and the other 30% as fats. So, the PFC (protein-fat-carb) count to aim for is 40-30-30.
To get the amount of each nutrient that you need you need to do some simple math. Let's say you have decided that 2,000 calories a day matches the bodyweight that you desire. Here are the PFC calculations for a 2000-calorie diet.
P – Protein: 40% times 2,000 = 800 protein calories. 800 divided by 4 (because there are 4 calories in a gram of protein) = 200 g protein daily
F – Fat: 30% times 2,000 = 600 fat calories. 600 divided by 9 (because there are 9 calories in a gram of fat) = 67 fat daily (FROM HEALTHY FAT SOURCES!)
C – Carbohydrates: 30% times 2,000 = 600 protein calories. 600 divided by 4 (because there are 4 calories in a gram of carbohydrate) = 150 g carbs daily
(Mainly complex carbs like whole wheat bread and NOT simple carbs like doughnuts!!)
My Daily Nutrient Profile at FitDay.com
This is how I keep focused on what I am putting into my body. What if you are getting 50% fat? Only 20% protein?! NOT GOOD!
You won't know until you plug in the values. Find your nutrient levels and then fix them!
You need at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight to build muscle. A 150-pound person should consume at least 150 grams of protein daily to support a regular lifting program. Use sites like FitDay.com to track your nutrient level intake for free. Aim for quality protein sources like fish, poultry and red meat. try to limit your red meat intake to once or twice per week as it requires the body to work many times harder compared to leaner sources like poultry and seafood.
Alan's Favorite Protein Sources:
- Tuna (35 grams of protein in one can!)
- Chicken (Grilled breasts are best due to the higher quality protein in the white meat.)
- Eggs (One of the twelve power foods. 6 grams of protein in one large egg.)
- Peanut butter (Another power food. Very convenient and great for hardgainers.)
- Ground turkey burger. (Not as hard on the digestive system as cow burger.)
- WHEY PROTEIN POWDER! (Perfect for post-workout consumption as whey (animal protein) is digested faster than other proteins (egg, dairy, and soy)
Whey protein is an excellent source of protein. Use whey protein to reach your daily protein goals. I consume 200 grams of protein per day and it would be very difficult without protein powder.
I recommend these great top-selling protein powders:
If you are not gettting at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight EVERY DAY, you are not giving your muscles what they need to rebuild most effectively!
Carbs provide us with energy. Complex carbs are digested slower by the body and provide longer lasting energy. Simple carbs, like white potatoes, are absorbed more rapidly by the body and produce a spike in insulin levels. "Bad carbs" are simple sugars, white breads, and foods like doughnuts (white flour and sugar) that have no real nutritional value.
Complex carbs should be your main source of carbs. They can be eaten throughout the day. Simple carbs, however, should only be eaten following a workout in which muscle has been broken down. Your muscles needs the high levels of glycogen provided by the simple carbs to refuel them. If you consume simple carbs during the day, the insulin spike results and all the glycogen can't enter the muscles because they don't need that much when it's not a post-workout time. So where does the glycogen go? It goes to your FAT CELLS! This is why eating doughnuts and oher simple carb latent foods like fast foods leads to so much fat storage. The message is clear, stay away from simple carbs unless it's post-workout time! If you need carbs, eat complex carbs!
Some simple carbs are labeled "bad carbs". Bad carbs should never be eaten! If you can't do never, then make it rare! I personally never eat junk food because healthy food fills me up just fine. There are so many tasty good food sources out there!
Remember to aim for 30% carbs and adjust the ratio if needed based on your goals.
Carbohydrate Examples
| Complex Carbs (Anytime) |
Simple Carbs (Post-workout only) |
Bad Carbs (Rarely or never!) |
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Multi-grain bread Whole wheat pasta Brown rice Oatmeal Skim Milk Strawberries
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Gatorade Dextrose sugar Maltodextrin Bagels with jelly White potatoes
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Doughnuts and pastries White bread and white flour bagels Soda Most packaged cereals All baked goods made with white flour Table sugar Candy
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Here are some great Post-Workout (Simple) Carb Sources:
Increase Your Bench Press By 50 POUNDS in Just 10 Weeks!
Don't worry about food sources for fat. Focus on protein and carbs and you will get enough fat naturally from those other foods. Keep track of your fat calories intake. Don't let it get too far past 30%! That's 67 grams of fat per day for a 2,000 calorie diet. That should be plenty.
Use these great supplements in combination with a healthy diet.
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Flax Seed Oil (Pack of Two 8-Ounce Bottles) Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are unsaturated fats that are necessary for thousands of biological functions throughout the body. Since they cannot be produced by the body, they must be provided for by your diet. Essentially, these are the only fats you will veer need. EFAs come in two types: Omega-3 (from cold water fish) and Omega-6 (from oils). EFAs aid in the prevention of muscle breakdown, help to increase your HDL level (good cholesterol), and assist in hormone production. Do not use capsule forms of flaxseed oil to get your required essential fatty acids (EFAs). Use the liquid only. If you use the capsules, you will have to take over 40 capsules per day to get the same amount of oil in just three tablespoons of liquid. |
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Men's One Energy Multivitamin (90 tablets) If you want to gain muscle, you must make sure that you are not deficient in any vitamin, mineral, or trace element that your body needs. Take the recommended serving of multivitamin every day to give your body the nutrients it needs. |
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NO Explode
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Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump 250
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Filed under Bench Press Diet by alboa45
